This invention relates generally to an improved system for reclaiming and recycling excess viscous batter in a foods processing line for producing batter coated food products such as batter coated French fry potato strips and the like. More particularly, this invention relates to a batter reclaimer system designed to collect and recycle excess batter dripping from the food products as those food products are delivered to a cooking vessel such as a fryer, wherein the batter is collected and recycled substantially without cooking thereof.
Batter coated food products are generally known in the art and have enjoyed increasing consumer popularity in recent years. For example, in one common form, a selected food product such as French fry potato strips is subjected to a batter coating step by immersion or spraying to encase or enrobe the food product within a liquid albeit relatively viscous batter containing a desired blend of ingredients such as flavorings and seasonings and the like. The batter coated food products are then transported typically on a porous mesh conveyor to a cooking vessel such as a fryer for at least partially cooking the products prior to further processing steps such as freezing and final packaging. The cooking step, especially in the case of a fryer for parfrying batter coated French fried potatoes, solidifies and sets the batter adhering onto the external surfaces of the food products. The batter coating thus remains on the products at the time of reheating and/or finish cooking immediately prior to consumption.
During the production of batter coated food products as described above, significant excess quantities of the liquid-based batter tends to drip or fall from the products particularly during transport thereof from a batter coating station to the cooking vessel. In this regard, a drip tray is commonly positioned beneath the transport conveyor to catch this excess batter and thereby permit convenient and economical recycling thereof to the batter coating station. However, it has been difficult or impractical to position this drip tray for effective collection of batter at the downstream end of the transport conveyor, or otherwise to catch batter dripping from the products as they are delivered from the conveyor into the cooking vessel such as a fryer containing hot cooking oil. Excess batter at this location has in general been allowed to enter the fryer where it is cooked to form solid crumbs which contaminates the cooking oil and also absorbs oil to result in overall increased oil usage and cost. Periodic screen-off removal of the batter crumbs has been required to prevent undesirable accumulation thereof. Efforts to collect excess batter at the downstream end of the conveyor have not avoided exposure of the batter to the heat of the fryer, resulting in at least partial batter cooking which renders any collected batter unsuitable for recycling.
There exists, therefore, a need for further improvements in and to systems and devices for reclaiming excess liquid-based batter in a foods processing line, particularly with respect to collecting excess batter at the point of delivery of batter coated food products into a cooking vessel such as a fryer, while preserving the collected batter substantially without cooking thereof to permit optimum and efficient recycling to a batter coating station. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.